The blog of ObiterJ - responsible and sometimes critical comment on legal matters of general interest. This blog does not offer legal advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional legal advice.
'The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience. The law embodies the story of a nation's development...it cannot be dealt with as if it contained the axioms and corollaries of a book of mathematics' - (Oliver Wendell Holmes - 1841 to 1935). Pro Aequitate Dicere

Thursday, 20 April 2017

General election on 8th June

There WILL be a general election on 8th June. The preceding post looked at the requirements for an "early election" in the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011 and the necessary majority was secured in the House of Commons on Wednesday 19th April. MPs approved the motion for an early general election by 522 to 13. The
support of two-thirds of all MPs required for this motion to pass was
reached - Parliament 19th April.

Parliament has to be dissolved 25 working days before Polling Day (8th June). This means that Parliament will be dissolved on Wednesday 3rd May.

Public Bills currently before Parliament cannot be carried over to the next Parliament. There is usually a so-called "wash up" when the Government and the
Opposition reach agreements on the bills or parts of bills that should
be hurried through their remaining parliamentary scrutiny. It is not fully known at the moment which Bills will be dealt with in the wash up process - List of Bills before Parliament as at 20th April. (Note: It was confirmed that the Prisons and Courts Bill will not proceed - Law Society Gazette).

The 8th June election will be held with the same constituency boundaries as the 2015 election. The Boundary Commissions are still working on changes and must report to the government by 1st October 2018.

The manifestos of the political parties have yet to be issued. It is not clear whether the Conservative Party will choose to include something about the proposed British Bill of Rights. Due to Brexit, this contentious topic was essentially put on hold until after the "next election" which would have been in 2020. There may be some in government who are keen to accelerate the process.